


I Choose You (The Art of Romance in Dancing)

by dragonmastriss



Category: Free!
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 01:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2409929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonmastriss/pseuds/dragonmastriss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fundraisers for the Iwatobi school or its clubs have never been something that the Swim Team thought about and they most certainly never included a dance, let alone a multiple school dance and with clubs costs on the rise for both the boys of Iwatobi and the boys of Samezuka Academy a fundraising dance might be the perfect way not only to earn money but to spark more interest. But interest in swimming isn't the only thing sparking while the boys take to the dance floor!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Intro or The Problem at Hand

**Author's Note:**

> It's a slow build type of story, and the first chapter is really a short introduction. Things pick up in speed and intensity as the story progresses...  
> Kind of like a dance.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything started rather benign, really...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a slow build type of story and the beginning is short but don't worry, the next few chapters will be longer and stronger.

 

* * *

* * *

 

Swimming was, unfortunately, not the only thing that needed to be discussed after practice that bright afternoon. The water was quiet now, glittering and relaxed behind the boys, all dressed in their uniforms again. Gou Matsuoka, (or Kou, as she wanted to be called) was shifting her weight from foot to foot, her face eager but serious. She dragged her eyes across the faces of each of the swimmers in front of her, green, blue, red, and violet eyes looking back. She was just finishing her explanation of their expenses, of the cost of maintaining the club, as she and Miho Amakata, advisor and biggest fan, had calculated, and the results were... not good.

“So, the club won't be given any more money without better results and we'll need to do some fund raising in order to make sure that we have what we need to get transportation to competitions and for advertisement to get new members. Fundraising will help us to get people to clean the school pool for us too,” she concluded. Her own red eyes were flashing with determination even as she shook the red locks of her hair sadly. “Otherwise, we'll have to find our own ways to get places, and clean the pool ourselves.”

The papers on her clipboard fluttered lightly in the breeze and she took a seat on the tile across from them. “Any ideas?” she asked, turning a page and clicking a pen in her fingers.

“What do the other clubs do?” Makoto Tachibana, the team's Captain, asked thoughtfully. He looked over to Rei Ryugazaki whose hand was to his mouth, contemplating.

“The track team sold candy and had a bake sale at the beginning of the year. It was how I heard about the team and it helped them get funding for new equipment.”

“That could work!” Nagisa Hazuki cheered, his bouncy blonde hair emphasizing his enthusiasm. “Mako-chan can cook, right? And Kou, you baked stuff for us before. And I'm sure Haru can bake something too and I can make strawberry cupcakes--”

“M-maybe that's not such a good idea, Nagisa-kun.” Kou interjected. Her face was pale suddenly, as were the faces of her fellow classmates. In their minds the image had simultaneously emerged of strawberry cupcakes heavy with strawberry protein powder, Nagisa's unfortunate and newly discovered staple.

Rei, fixing his glasses to his face, and staring intently at his friend, was the only one who dared to speak of it, “Nagisa, the art of baking is a precise one that requires perfect balance of flavor and heat and-”

“Then you can teach me, Rei-chan~!”

“Me?!”

“All right, all right,” Makoto stood up, taking control before the conversation spiraled too far. “Let's all make a list of things we might be able to do. A bake sale can be one of them, and tomorrow, we can pick whatever one we think will work best. Okay?”

There was a unanimous agreement to that plan before they parted ways for the night, Nagisa still trying to convince Rei to help him make strawberry protein cupcakes...

 

 


	2. Just Realize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako/Haru Chapter

* * *

 

The walk home was, as usual, strangely quiet for Haru, with only Makoto for company, Rei and Nagisa's voice left behind them at the cross road of the school grounds. Around them, the sky had begun to change color and he could look just to the right of him and see the pink and orange hues painted over the ocean. The sun glittered on the waves and Haru quietly admired them just as he quietly admired the way that the setting sun turned Makoto's hair golden and shadowed his face in a way that was more alluring than it should have been.

Today, although he was happy that there wasn't much to talk about, the quiet was almost uncomfortable to him. In his mind, he couldn't help replaying the events of the afternoon, although, the idea of a bake sale wasn't exciting to him in the slightest. In fact, it seemed like too much of a bother for the effort. It was Nagisa's excitement though, that intrigued him, and the way that he immediately wanted Rei to teach him. Again and again he found himself thinking about the way that Nagisa hung on Rei's arm, both physically and metaphorically. And even though Rei seemed to protest, Haruka was positive that he wasn't actually annoyed by the prospect.

Until that afternoon, learning to bake or cook anything like sweets or specifically making things for other people to eat, never occurred to him. Seeing then and now remembering, Nagisa and Rei's interation though, made a strange feeling bubble up in him, something he had no good explanation for. So as he and Makoto walked in silence and his gaze could be mistaken for his typical affection for the water, (and not that he was looking at his friend), he imagined what Makoto's response would be if he acted like Nagisa did. Just this once, what would Makoto do if he began jumping up and down, actively excited by the prospect of Makoto teaching him something like baking. Relaxing into his stride, he let his imagination wander to his kitchen at home. It found small spots of flour on Makoto's favorite blue t-shirt, it found a batch of cookie dough on the counter, and it found Haru watching Makoto's hands as they rolled the dough--

“What is it?” Makoto laughed, stirring him suddenly back to reality. It was a deep laugh, a chuckle that send a small shiver through Haruka's frame. “Is there something on my face?”

Haru shook his head, pausing in his step. His brow furrowed and he looked down for a moment, eyes falling onto Makoto's hand, hanging gently by his side.

“Haru?” It was the anxious tone in his friend's voice that made Haruka realize that he was making Makoto uncomfortable.

“I want to ask you something,” he began, but looking straight into Makoto's eyes made the question vanish from his mind. The action seemed to have completely removed his previous decision to act as boldly as Nagisa would in this situation.

Makoto could tell from the look on Haru's face that the question on his thin lips was something that he had been thinking about for a while. A train of thought that he wanted to pursue but was hesitant about. Patiently, he waited for Haru to speak, wishing that he could reach out, touch his friend's shoulder just for a moment, reassure him with a single gesture that he could say whatever was on his mind.

“Makoto...” Haru began to speak again, then paused, and Makoto took an unconscious step toward him. His hand was barely a foot away from Haru's and he had to quietly dispel the urge to take that slender hand in his own and encourage him to speak his mind. “Mako,” he repeated, a faint pink glow on his cheeks. Makoto convinced himself that it was the illusion of the sun, and Haru convinced himself that his embarrassment had nothing to do with not taking Makoto's hand, even though he saw the twitch of Makoto's muscles. “Could you... teach me to bake?”

Makoto laughed again, that same, never judging, deep laugh that Haru would always identify as perfectly warm even when the source of it came from surprise.

“I can, if you want to... for the bake sale?” he asked, receiving a small shrug from the blue haired boy as he retook to their path home.

“I just want to swim,” Haru clarified, his gaze on the ocean again.

“Yeah, I know...” Makoto sighed, shaking his head.

Neither of them saw it as they walked, (faces always forward, looking toward home), but as they walked, neither of them could help the faint smiles that lingered on their lips.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile... in the dorms of Samezuke Academy...

* * *

 

* * *

“ That's a great plan, Rin-Sempai!” Aiichiro Nitori complimented, before turning back to his school work. He was sitting together with the red haired captain of the swim team, Rin Matsuoka, in his and Sousuke Yamazaki's dorm room. It was here that they had finally sought out some quiet in order to study and work on the Swim Team's training regime for the week. The work was, (fortunately), calm and comfortable and a settled feeling rested over them. The sense of normalcy coming because of the year they had spent previously rooming together.

Rin leaned back in his chair and focused his fiery red eyes across at Nitori, who was sitting at Sousuke's desk to study. He watched his old roommate with curious eyes; Aiichiro's bowl cut grey hair was sticking up at odd angles, his normal agitation over homework bleeding through his normally calm demeanor. But he assumed that there was, as always with Nitori, something more going on in his head than just homework. “What about your training with Sousuke?” Rin asked, sparking, as he expected, a bit of a jump response from his younger teammate.

“I-It's on going, going well,” he corrected, stumbling through his thoughts. His pencil fell clumsily from his fingertips. “Yamazaki-sempai has been a really good coach for me,” he continued to explain, scrambling to pick it up again.

“Just don't over do it,” Rin sighed, subconsciously rubbing his shoulder and glancing at the drawer Sousuke kept his shoulder brace.

Nitori's face turned red as he nodded, refusing to look behind him. Rin's words of caution were echoing in his head though, the phrase mingling with and reminding Nitori of Sousuke's own words, the same cautions. Uncomfortably shifting in his chair, the smell of chlorine sprung to his nose, wafting up from some item of Sousuke's or Rin's near by. Or maybe from his own clothes, Niroti didn't know. Wherever the scent came from, it overwhelmed him for a brief moment, bringing his memory back to the dim poolside, to Sousuke standing tall just at the edge of the water, a tall obelisk, a goal that Nitori swam for.

“ _Don't overdo it,”_ the remembered voice repeated. 

“S-sorry Sempai,” Nitori cried, bending his blushing face closer to his books.

Rin frowned, “Don't apologize just--” His phone buzzed in his pocket just as the door to the dorm room opened, admitting the aforementioned, Sousuke.

Sousuke was drenched, his face red and his hair matted. Partially, it was from the light misting rain that had begun outside, but partly it was due to his run, one of the few things he kept up with, now that he had cut back on swimming. His dark hair, although damp, looked a bit windswept, and his head phones dangled from his neck, still playing music.

“Did you have a good run, Yamazaki-sempai?” Nitori asked, trying as best he could not to stare at his upperclassman friend and mentor and to turn his focus back to the materials on his desk.

Sousuke smiled lightly at him, not nearly as annoyed as he thought he ought to be by the sight of Nitori at his desk. Nitori's books and notebooks and bag were spread across Sousuke's things in a typical display of Nitori's form of personal chaos. “It was fine,” he answered finally, exposing his abs to wipe the sweat off his face with the bottom edge of his t-shirt. “What are you two up to?”

“We're planning the training schedule for the week,” Rin offered in explanation. 

It was a moment before Sousuke responded, and Rin didn't miss the way his roommate's eyes seemed to linger longer than usual on Nitori's frame.

“Want me to take a look?” Sousuke offered, dragging his eyes to Rin's face.

“Yeah, sure,” Rin sighed, handing over the clipboard of notes and plans. He wanted to ask what was going on between the two of them, but suddenly things felt awkward, strained even, and he assumed that it was because Nitori was suddenly and strangely tapping his pencil against his right cheek as he stared at the book in front of him. Sousuke buried himself momentarily, in reviewing the notes, and Nitori in his own studies, so Rin took a moment to run his eyes over his younger classmate in a way he hadn't done before. He noted that Nitori's outfit was different than his usual attire. The same shorts as usual, but his shirt was sleeveless, which previously, Rin had written off to the muggy air from that morning. Now though, now that he was actually looking, he could observe what he could only assume was the object of Sousuke's interest. It was apparent that in only a short span of time, Nitori's new personalized regime was seriously beneficial to him. His arms were more defined, more muscular in a way that Rin didn't know his frame could present. Still, even that observation didn't wholly convince him that Sousuke's interest was purely in Nitori's muscles.

Shaking his head, he pulled his phone from his pocket. The message he'd received came from his sister, Kou. “Cookie and cake recipes?” he murmured.

Suddenly from down the hall they heard yelling followed by a crash of a door and footsteps pounding closer to them. The dorm door slammed open immediately, and Momotaro Mikoshiba fell through into the room.

“SEMPAI!!!” he yelled and froze, to see them all staring at him with various levels of annoyance portrayed across their faces. “You're all here...?” he blinked, but suddenly he jumped again, holding out his phone to them and waving it around so that no one could read the message he was obviously excited about. “I got a message from Kou!” he announced gleefully. “She's asking me about cookie recipes--”

“Why do you have her number?” Rin interjected, a low growl to his voice that sent an unpleasant shiver down Nitori's spine. 

If Momo heard him, he made no sign of it and instead was continuing to gush on about the message in his hands, asking, in an apparently rhetorically manner, since no one had the chance to answer, if they thought it was some kind of message of adoration toward him. Some sign that she might be returning his feelings.

Sousuke dropped the clipboard he was reviewing onto the bed and casually pulled his own phone out of his pocket and flipped it open to read a message. Rin on the other hand was growing more and more stiff by the second. His face was tense and his fist was clenched, clearly overwhelmingly annoyed.

“I got that same message!” he barked out finally, shoving his own phone at Momotaro's face. 

Everything about Momotaro seemed to deflate the instant he read the message. His yellow eyes, normally burning with excitement, went dark. His face fell into a dejected stare. His shoulders slumped, and even his burnt orange hair seemed to suddenly fall flat. In complete silence he stared at that phone screen, before looking again at his own to find the identical message dishearteningly real. He collapsed finally, on the bottom bunk of the bed, eyes covered by his arm.

“Oh, Kou!” he whined dramatically. “Why?! I know he's your brother, and his advice is to be valued but--”

“I got that message too,” Sousuke interrupted, passing his phone to Momo now. Nitori glanced back at the desk and saw that his phone, although on silent, was also lit up with a message from Kou. Although he didn't have the heart to check it's contents.

“It's hopeless!” Momo cried, grabbing one of Rin's pillows. Rin jumped off his chair and grabbed it back, hitting his team mate in the stomach with it before returning it to the head of the bed.

“Get over it, and get off my bed,” he scowled. 

“Ow! Sempai! Can't you see I'm suffering from heart break!” he cried. “And it's because of  _ your _ sister! You should be nicer!”

“I should kick you out,” Rin retorted. 

Nitori tried to stifle a laugh. On the one hand, he felt sorry for Momo, but on the other hand, the sheer dramatics that Momotaro was capable of made the whole situation feel a lot less serious than it could have been. He turned back to his books as the quiet settled in again. Behind him, Rin was typing away on his phone, Momo sighed into his arm, and Sousuke, picking up the clipboard again, was flipping through to study the routine for the week, the music playing from the headphones around his neck a faint tin sound.

“Looks good,” he said finally, breaking the silence as he handed the clipboard back to Rin. “We will have to adjust your routine though, Nitori-kun.”

Nitori's heart thumped hard against his rib cage at the sound of his name. From Sousuke's mouth, it seemed more warm than it had ever seemed before and it made a blush of heat flow to his cheeks. “I don't mind,” he said quickly, purposely focused on not turning himself toward anyone in the room.

“Your training is working so well!” Momo cheered, sitting up, the disappointment completely lost from his voice. Face still red, Nitori did turn now, trying his best to face only Momo, who was smiling brightly at him. “You should convince Sempai to coach me too!”

“No,” Sousuke answered immediately.

“What? Why not?!”

“You're too loud,” Sousuke explained, taking off his headphones and pulling off his shirt.

Rin exploded into laughter and Momo fell backward onto the bed again.

“You're really good, Momo,” Nitori offered sympathetically. “I think if you keep working hard at practice you'll be fine! Don't worry.” He tried to focus on his disgruntled teammate, but wasn't having much luck, so he turned back to his books, the alternatives being to look at Rin laughing, or to look at Sousuke, currently shirtless as he changed out of his running clothes. Unfortunately though, the little mirror on Sousuke's desk was in just the right spot that Nitori could see the tall, muscular back, the slightly swollen shoulder, the rough dark hair, just fine anyway.

He looked tired, Nitori observed. His eyes looked dark and exhausted but he could't tell if it was from the run, or if it was from school. He could assume that Sousuke, a normally quiet person, was exhausted by intrusions like the one offered by Momotaro, but he doubted it was the cause. Inevitably, Nitori looked away, looked down, guilt burying deep into his heart. He was sure that Sousuke was tired because of him, because Sousuke was spending time training him instead of studying and was loosing rest because of it. He couldn't deny the benefits of training with Sousuke, though. His times were better, his strokes were more powerful, and when they weren't burning from the workouts, he felt the newfound strength of his muscles. He felt, all things considered, good.

“I'm going to get dinner,” Sousuke said suddenly, pulling a clean shirt on and closing his closet door. “Anyone in?”

“I'm good,” Rin sighed, flipping open the cover of one of his text books. “Unless you wanna bring me a soda?”

Sousuke rolled his eyes.

“I'm too upset to eat,” Momo sighed. 

Rin rolled his eyes, “You ate already, I saw you in the cafe an hour ago,” he turned to Nitori, who was putting a book into his bag to switch subjects. “But Nitori hasn't eaten yet,” he grinned, his sharp teeth showing as his eyes glittered mischievously.

“N-no, I haven't, but--”

“Let's go then,” Sousuke opened the door, and bent down to tighten the laces on his shoes. 

“Bu-but I have--”

“Don't over do it,” Sousuke smiled from the doorway, his green eyes almost shining in the dorm room light. 

Heart pounding with anxious confusion and excitement, Nitori packed up this things and followed Sousuke out the door, but not before Momo had begun to beg Rin to talk to Kou for him.

“Come on, Sempai! You're her brother! You know her better than anyone! You could tell her--”

“No.”

The door closed on the rest of the conversation and Nitori followed Sousuke down the hall, his quick stride making up for the other's longer one, just like it always was with Rin.

For a few steps there was a strained, almost awkward silence and it suddenly occurred to Nitori that he hadn't spent time much time alone with Sousuke outside of the pool and weight-rooms and beyond those spaces he had never spent time with him without at least Rin being around too. He grasped for a topic of conversation, but nothing came to mind except what they had just walked away from.

“Momotaro-kun seems to really like Kou, huh?”

“Yeah,” Sousuke agreed, an amused smirk on his face. “But I'm not sure that she'll ever see him that way.”

“You've known her for a long time, right sempai?”

“Rin, Kou, and I grew up together, yeah.”

“Maybe Momo-kun should ask you for advise instead!” he laughed, his voice sounding strained and awkward to his ears.

“No. Even if she would like him that way, she doesn't recognize him romantically. I can't fix that.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Nitori asked, before he could stop himself. A lump formed in his throat, a tangled mess of sad realization and embarrassment wheeling up from his heart. 

“She only just started to remember his name. I can't help him with that,” Sousuke explained. “He has to get her attention on his own.”

“I guess,” Nitori sighed. “That's the hard part though... I know how that is.”

“Hmm?” Sousuke's hum urged him to explain but Nitori could feel the mixed ball of emotions pressing against his voice.

“I- I guess I know what it's like. To want to be noticed, I mean,” he trailed off, head ducking toward the floor and shoulders rising.

“Aiichiro,” Sousuke paused. A brief flash of shock passed his features, but Nitori didn't correct him on the lost honorific or the use of his first name, although it had surprised him too. Sousuke breathed lightly and shook his head slowly. “You are noticed,” he said softly. His cheeks colored, just slightly before he turned away. 

Nitori glued his eyes to the floor, heart threatening to leap out of his chest. It pounded hard and his face burned from it. “Th-thank you, Sempai,” he stuttered, happiness welling up within him. Sousuke's voice burned into his mind. He had been seen, Sousuke did see him for someone more than a teammate. At the very least, he saw a friend. The twitch on Sousuke's lips had him convinced that maybe, just maybe, he even might feel something more.

“Your teammates see your determination,” Sousuke continued and the breaks squealed loudly in Nitori's mind. “They see your progress and enthusiasm and I know that even though he doesn't mention it, Rin sees it too,” he said pointedly, and Nitori realized where everything had gone wrong.

Sousuke though Nitori was in love with Rin.

He felt the surge that had been happiness twist dark in his heart and drop fast into his legs, shattering into thousands of shards of expectations as the conversation drifted to his training regime instead. His emotions tumbled to the floor but he lifted his head to listen and respond as if he didn't notice. As if he hadn't noticed that Sousuke wasn't saying what he hoped he would say. As if he didn't realize that Sousuke had mentioned Rin, and not himself. He continued to walk and talk as if the painful ache of rejection didn't feel so real to him even though rejection hadn't actually happened.

It would be lying to say that once he might have felt this way about Rin. He might have liked him as more than a friend. But that wasn't the case now, and this feeling, the one that was slowly turning into a painful ache in his chest, the one for Sousuke, was stronger, different.

Sitting down with Sousuke in the cafeteria, Nitori picked at his food and tried to talk about simple stuff, just classes and swimming, but it was clear to him now what he had only vaguely suspected before.

He had a strong, and now broken hearted crush, on Sousuke Yamazaki.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and gave me kudos~!


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